A critical creative look at issues of Economics, Politics and Finding a Purpose in Life - Let's talk about it. I try to leave the woodpile higher than I found it.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

This is the most encouraging thing I have read recently

This
is the most encouraging thing I have read about the state of our
Government, House, Senate and Presidency. They are all three branches
trying to govern like it's 1966. This is the last gasp of a failed
strategy. President Obama came promising to be a new kind of leader...
he has demonstrated that he is an antique. One that according to this
writer will be put on the shelf. If you are a policy
wonk, this is a satisfying read. If you love things the way they are
going... live long and prosper, but the rug is about to be pulled... not
a second to soon:::

TRANSFORMATION

The recent
political deadlock and government shutdown, and the disastrous rollout
of ObamaCare, show that something is seriously wrong in Washington, D.C.

What’s going on?

America is going through a
transformation, on a scale that few people now realize. The last such
fundamental change was from the rural and agrarian society of the
Founding era (America 1.0) to the urban and industrial society which is
now coming to an end (America 2.0).

Today’s political regime is like legacy software, built for an earlier world.

That transition was disruptive and painful, but ultimately led to a better America.

We are now making a similar transition to a post-industrial, networked,
decentralized, immensely productive America, with a more
individualistic, voluntarist, anti-bureaucratic culture (America 3.0).

Today’s political regime is like legacy software, built for an earlier world.

Institutions of the 20th Century welfare state that once looked
permanent are crumbling. The old operating system has been kludged so
many times it won’t work much longer. It has to be replaced.

The time-worn liberal-progressive wisdom is simple: See a problem, create a government program to fix it.

ObamaCare proves this approach no longer works.

Social Security lasted many years before it was structurally doomed to insolvency.

Medicare experienced cost overruns from the beginning, but was
initially self-sustaining. Yet it now faces $22 trillion in future
unfunded liabilities.

Unlike Social Security and Medicare, which were viable when they began, ObamaCare failed before it even got started.

ObamaCare had 82 legally specified start dates, but missed half of
them. Waivers have been granted to four million Americans, according to
an arbitrary, opaque and politicized process.

The employer mandate has been delayed for a year, in violation of the express language of the law.

Congress got a taxpayer funded bailout of their ObamaCare premiums.

Despite Mr. Obama’s assurances, the Congressional Budget Office found
that 14.5 million Americans will lose their insurance plans.

The failed rollout is only the tip of a vast iceberg of failure.

Further, ObamaCare primarily benefits insiders, like insurance companies, who are equipped to play the Washington game.

ObamaCare is simply beyond the scope of anything the Federal government
can accomplish. Health care takes up over 17% of US GDP, about $2.8
trillion annually. Attempting to centrally govern a complex economy of
this size and complexity was always hopeless.

Unfortunately,
while liberal-progressive thought is trapped in the 20th Century, there
has been an egregious dearth of creative alternatives from the other
side of the political divide.

The Republican party is engaged
in a civil war between an institutional wing that shuns controversy, and
insurgents who fiercely oppose ObamaCare.

But mere opposition is not enough.

Viable alternative, and a vision of a transformed public sector, and a transformed America are sorely needed.

True reform will embrace the existing trends in our society and in
technology, facilitating competition and broad consumer choice.

Health care decisions belong in the hands of citizens, even when they
receive government assistance For example, the law should promote health
savings accounts that roll over from year to year.

Means-tested subsidies on a sliding scale should be provided to purchase qualified health insurance plans attached to HSAs.

Preexisting conditions would be covered by high risk pools in states, backstopped by block granted Federal funds.

Radically decentralizing decision-making will lead to competitive cost
savings and innovation, rather than rationing care to cut costs.

The government shutdown, and the failures of ObamaCare, are dramatic symptoms of an old systems reaching its end.

But this is a time of transition, not decline. It is up to us to begin
building the free and prosperous America which will be ours, if we do
the work to make it happen.

About Me

I have been married for a long time and with two wonderful Sons have enjoyed life here and overseas. I look forward to a full productive life of making things better and better for more and more people. I have been given much and for that reason much is required. I'm ready.